Preface to SeCoGIS 2007

Geographical Information Systems are nowadays considered as one of the most challenging and promising areas that might beneficiate from research advances in conceptual and semantic modeling. It has been largely recognised that the integration of semantic and conceptual models within Geographical Information Systems will help to develop innovative solutions for the benefits of urban and environmental applications. This is very much the objective of the SeCoGIS workshop that serves as an integrated forum for disseminating research and experience in conceptual and semantics issues associated to Geographical Information Systems. It brought together leading researchers and developers to discuss the state of the art, and to understand novel challenges and emerging research directions. The SeCoGIS workshop has been originally initiated from two successful series of workshops, Conceptual Modeling for Geographic Information Systems (CoMoGIS), and Semantic-based Geographical Information Systems (SeBGIS). The SeCoGIS workshop is organized in a single-track specialised session to highly stimulate interaction amongst the participants. The co-location with the EntityRelationship Conference allows cross-fertilization and mutual interactions between the ER and GIS research communities. The call for papers attracted 20 papers, which were submitted by authors from 10 countries and 3 continents, clearly illustrating the international nature of the domain. The program committee consisting of 31 researchers conducted three to four reviews of each paper and selected 9 papers for presentation and discussion at the workshop. The workshop was organised in three sessions of 3 papers each. The first session is devoted to foundational issues. The second session covers ontologies and location-based services. Finally, the third session addresses the issues of interoperability and spatial infrastructures. Many people help in putting together this workshop. First of all the Steering Committee was in charge of the initial conception and reality of the workshop. The Program Committee has been very much efficient on carefully reviewing the papers under a very tight schedule. Special thanks to Philippe Rigaux for providing the MyReview program, which was used during the reviewing process. We hope that you find the program and presentations beneficial and enjoyable and that you had during the workshop many opportunities to meet colleagues and practitioners.